Saving Me
by Ataraninja
Summary: When the villager's scorn gets to Naruto, he turns emo and the only thing that can save him are three words from a special someone who's fighting her own inner demons. The truth is: they need each other. NaruSaku and other pairings scattered.
1. Chapter 1, Prologue

Saving Me

_**Saving Me**_

**Intro: **This is a dark fic about Naruto and Sakura's falling in love.

**Disclaimer: **I DO NOT OWN NARUTO. I also do not own the song that this story is named after, no that belongs to my favorite rockers eva, NICKLEBACK!!

**Summary: **When the stress of the village's taunting and scorn finally gets to Naruto, he turns emo and the only thing that can save him are three words from a special someone. AU,**Warning:**Characters will be OOC.

**Pairings will be**

**Main: **Naruto/Sakura

**Secondary: **Hinata/Sasuke

TenTen/Neji

Shikamaru/Ino

**Chapter 1**, _Prologue_

I ran from the mob that had burning torches and were screaming and yelling, "DEMON! Kill the demon!"

I had to live this way every day because of something that had occurred in the past: an event that I didn't even remember.

My name is Uzumaki Naruto and as far as I know, I'm a demon, or so that's what they call me. I've been persecuted from the moment I could walk and the adults never turn a smile my way. Every time I try to play with the other children, they shoo them away and whisper things in their ears while giving me a hateful glare. I never understood why they hated me so much but I just know to expect it, because that's how it's always been and there's no sign of them ever changing it.

I made my way to my secret hiding spot and eventually the shouts faded out into the night. I gently cried to myself from the shadow of a large tree.

Suddenly, I felt a burst of anger swell up inside me and I punched an nearby tree, causing my already bruised knuckles to bleed.

Today was October 10th, the one day that I should have been spending opening colorfully wrapped boxes with my name on them, smiling up at my parents, and being treated like a king, but it wasn't so. Even though today was supposed to be special, even though it was my seventh birthday, it had become the worst day of my life.

I stopped crying abruptly when I heard a twig snap in front of me. "Who's there?" I asked in a scared voice.

To my surprise, a girl walked out of the bushes. She looked as though she had been crying because her eyes were red.

"I-I'm sorry. I didn't mean to spy," she said in a nice voice and I relaxed a little when I realized that she wasn't here to kill my.

"Who are you?" I asked because I couldn't tell in the dark since the clouds had covered the moon.

"S-Sakura Haruno," she answered before she broke down and started crying.

"Well, what's wrong Sakura?" I asked, trying to be nice despite my own problems. That was before I saw the cut on her arm. "Whoa! What happened to you?" I asked in alarm. The cut was bleeding profusely and it looked deep.

"Oh…I…um…did that…t-to myself," she answered as her crying slowed a little bit.

"Is that why you are crying?" I asked and she teared up again before starting to cry again. She fell over onto me and the blood from her arm got on my clothes.

Just then, someone burst through the clearing from where Sakura had appeared. I could tell it was a woman, and as soon as she saw Sakura lying in my arms with her blood all over my shirt, she yelled, "Get away from her, Demon! Don't you hurt my Sakura!"

She grabbed Sakura by her uninjured arm and took her out of the clearing. Soon I heard the voices of the mob building again and I fled the bloody clearing and the mob that pursued me once again.

That was the last I saw of Sakura for a long time, and I'd begun to forget about her, that is, until graduation day…

**End: This fic is going to be a dark fic! Sakura was a bit emo in this first part but you'll find out later why she was like that. Anyone know something strange about Sakura from the manga that might have made her cut herself. Something to do with her family?... HintHint. And btw that last sentence was the beginning of the time skip, duh! R&R plz**


	2. Chapter 2, Graduation Day

Saving Me

_**Saving Me**_

**Disclaimer: **I DO NOT OWN NARUTO. I also do not own the song that this story is named after, no that belongs to my favorite rockers eva, NICKLEBACK!!

**Intro: **Here is Chapter 2! Just for the record, Naruto's seriousness in this story causes him to stop acting like an idiot and more like a genius like Sasuke and Neji are supposed to be.

**Summary: **When the stress of the village's taunting and scorn finally gets to Naruto, he turns emo and the only thing that can save him are three words from a special someone. AU,**Warning:**Characters will be OOC.

**Pairings will be**

**Main: **Naruto/Sakura

**Secondary: **Hinata/Sasuke

TenTen/Neji

Shikamaru/Ino

**Chapter 2**, _Graduation Day_

I sat outside, far away from everyone else that was graduating. Sure, I'd 'proven' myself by passing my exam finally with flying colors (how…I'll never tell), but it didn't matter. The other kids still hated me and they glared over in my direction. When I saw a dark shape moving closer to the building followed by another with a pink blot for hair, I knew who it was. Sasuke was coming and behind him would probably be his mob of fangirls, Sakura at the very front of the crowd.

He managed to dodge around them and walked over to where I sat. The girls wouldn't follow him and he always came to talk to me anyways. Something about my black cargo pants with chains, my black hoodie with a bloody sword on the back, paired with orange wrist bands and an orange T-shirt under the hoodie, seemed to repel the girls from me. Of course, every now and then, I would hear them whispering something about cute emo boys when Sasuke and I walked by. Of course, they stayed their distance from me. Maybe it wasn't my clothes at all, but me that they were afraid of. Of course it was. I caught a glimpse of Sakura looking over in my direction and not at Sasuke, but then Ino shook her and started whispering and Sakura let out a half-hearted laugh.

Sasuke had been watching me, and he asked when he saw the girls laughing, "They're talking about you, aren't they?"

"Yeah," I answered simply looking up at Sasuke.

"Hn," was all he said afterwards and we sat there in silence until finally we saw the doors to the academy open and we got up and went into the classroom.

After Iruka had made a speech about us graduating which I only listened to halfheartedly, we received our headbands and were told to meet back at the academy at noon to be assigned to our jounin leaders.

Sasuke followed me out of building and the girls stayed back whispering. Sakura was the first to leave the building, not as afraid of me as the other girls. I stopped walking and Sasuke stopped and turned around to look at Sakura. I also tilted my head in her direction and looked at her from the corner of my eye. With both of us looking at her, the cherry blossom's face turned to the same color as her hair.

"Why are you always following me Sakura?" Sasuke asked annoyed at her fangirl ways.

"I'm not following you Sasuke-kun, I…um well," she started as her face began to turn more red than pink. Changing her story, she said, "Oh, I'm sorry Sasuke-kun, I won't follow you anymore." I could tell she was embarrassed and it was probably because of me. She was ashamed to talk to me, and so were the other girls. I gave her a cold glare and she gave me a regretful look before she quickly left Sasuke and I alone standing just ten feet from the academy.

"Well, I got to go Naruto. I'll see you tomorrow," Sasuke said once Sakura had gone.

I nodded my head and the Uchiha disappeared in a flash. Seconds later, I saw his dark figure jumping on the rooftops about twenty five feet down from me. Not ready to go home, I decided to go into the woods for a while. There was a secret place that I liked to go nowadays where I didn't have to see these stupid people that had hated me for as long as I could remember.

After about ten minutes, I was in a small clearing where a stream bubbled up from the ground and had carved an S-shaped river of clear water that cut straight through the ground and went down the hill before disappearing behind the trees. At the opening of the stream a pond had formed that was filled with the crystal clear water. Stripping down into just my shorts (a/n he wears shorts under his pants), I got into the warm spring water and relaxed for a while before the silence was suddenly disturbed.

Out of the bushes walked none other than the pink-haired kunoichi who had just left only minutes before, too ashamed to admit that she had wanted to talk to me, Naruto Uzumaki. "Um, h-hello Naruto," Sakura said as she sat down by the pond and crossed her legs Indian-style.

"Sakura," I replied closing one eye and looking at her through the other.

"I…I wanted to talk to you about…the first time we met. I just couldn't say it in front of Sasuke."

"Why? You're too ashamed to speak to me? You don't want anyone to know? Well then, why come back and taunt me like this?!" I said opening both eyes wide. They flashed red for an instant and Sakura gasped in fear. I knew that she'd seen and I was surprised when she relaxed again and closed her eyes to let out a sigh.

"I'm sorry Naruto. I didn't come to taunt you. I wanted to know if you had told anyone about what I said to you."

"About what? That cut on your arm?" I asked looking at her face.

"Yes."

"I didn't tell anyone, Sakura," I answered closing my eyes once more. When I reopened them, Sakura was staring directly at me and she quickly turned her gaze downward. "Why?"

"Because some of the other girls were whispering about me and I heard them say something about me cutting myself."

"Well, it's none of their business, is it?" I replied.

"No, but they were laughing and making fun of me and I thought that you might have told them," she said looking down at her arm where all of the traces of her cut had disappeared.

"Don't worry about them," I responded before looking up at the sky and then getting out of the water. "Well, I'll be going home now Sakura," I said as I walked into the woods once more and Sakura's face disappeared behind the trees. I put my dry clothes back on once I had gotten away from the pond and then I headed to my house.

Once I got home, I took a shower and then I lay down in my bed. It took me a while to actually fall asleep and I laid there looking up at the dark orange ceiling and black walls of my bedroom thinking about Sakura.

Eventually I fell asleep and I started to dream.

_It was dark and fog was rolling in creating a thick blanket on the unidentified platform that I stood on. I heard a girl's scream and I started running in the direction of the sound. Suddenly a sharp object struck my arm and I saw that it was a sinbon(a/n correct spelling?) needle. A hundred more followed it and I could hardly see to dodge them. The girl's scream filled the air again and I kept running despite my pain. _"I'm coming! I'll save you!" _I yelled into the darkness._

_The darkness seemed to close in on me as I ran toward the sound. Despite all of the black emptiness, I could see the shape of a tall man with a big sword holding onto the girl that was screaming. I could see her fighting him but I still couldn't tell who it was. I jumped over a gap in the platform and the next thing I knew I was standing at the feet of the tall man who had a grasp on the girl who had finally given up. Her hands were tied together with a rope and the man had just put a piece of duct tape on her mouth to keep her from talking. When she saw me, she still made an attempt to talk, though and she mumbled, _"Hmelm me Mamuto!" (Help me Naruto)

At just that moment, I awoke as the alarm clock began beeping and making shrill noises that annoyed me and hurt my ears. It was only 9:00 and I didn't need to be at the Academy until 12 so I just laid there in my bed.

I could have sworn that the girl had been Sakura, but I never could see her face well or tell what color her hair was. I laid there thinking about the anxiety I'd felt in my dream and I wondered, _Why was I so nervous about some girl? I never cared about anyone before. What the hell is wrong with me?_

I busied myself around my house until about 11:00 at which point I got dressed and went back to the Academy for the team selection. I met Sasuke along the way and we walked to the Academy together.

"So, who do you think they teamed you up with?" I asked Sasuke wondering who my teammates would be. I hoped it wouldn't be Sakura: she'd already caused enough strife in my life.

"I don't know, but I hope not Sakura. She's such a fangirl," he replied oblivious to her connection with me as well.

"Yeah, I know," I said without giving him any hints as to our relationship status. (a/n I'm just talking about what happened in the past and what it has caused for Naruto now; not the girlfriend/boyfriend thing.)

"Hey, Sasuk—oh hi Naruto," Sakura said as she ran to catch up with us.

After she showed up, we were silent until we reached the academy and we were assigned to our teams. I wasn't listening for anyone's name but mine and maybe Sakura's to see if I'd get stuck with her. And then I heard it, "Team Seven will consist of: Sasuke Uchiha, Naruto Uzumaki, and…Sakura Haruno."

I groaned on the inside. I was sick of having to put up with her. She totally ignored me and made fun of me when she was with her friends, but then when we were alone she acted as if she'd never said anything bad about me. What had I done to deserve her scorn so long ago? I'd only been talking to her.

I remembered back to that moment. Sakura had fallen into my arms as a form of comfort and I'd felt that comfort, too. But then, her mother called me a demon and took her away, not even giving me a chance to speak. _How could I even think about her now? I _asked myself as I glared over at the pink-haired kunoichi that was staring at me. She diverted her gaze almost immediately, but not before I saw what looked like happiness in her expression. _Is she happy about being teamed up with Sasuke…or me? _I thought.

Everyone else had gone when their sensei's came to get them and now Sasuke, Sakura, and I were the only ones left. "I'll show him to be late," I said with a frown on my face as I stood up and got the chalkboard eraser from the front of the classroom. Standing on a chair, I rigged it so that when our sensei came through the door it would fall on his head. I put the chair back and sat back down.

"Nice," Sasuke said while Sakura just looked at me without me noticing.

After about five minutes, the door creaked open and chalk dust disguised the identity of the person at the door for a couple seconds. Then, out stepped a silver-haired jounin with the eraser in his hand. He looked at it and then gave all three of us questioning glares. No one made any response and he gave up. "Team 7?" he asked looking at us.

"Yes," Sakura said. "I suppose you're our sensei, right? Because if not, you must be the janitor and we could get out of your hair."

"Unfortunately you will not be getting out of my hair anytime soon," he said looking at Sakura's pink hair. He mumbled, "God I wish I was the janitor…"

And then he told us to meet him in ten minutes on the rooftop. He disappeared in a poof, and we soon followed him to the roof. Once we'd all sat down in front of him: Sasuke and I looking cool and emo and Sakura with a slightly…more like really uncomfortable look on her face as she sat with her legs crossed and looked between the two of us.

"Okay, so I want you all to tell me something about yourselves. Your name, likes, dislikes, and a life goal would be good."

"Why do we have to start? Won't you tell us something about yourself sensei?" Sakura asked in a sweet voice despite the obvious fear that one of us might kill her. (Not that we would, she's just being stupid.)

"Fine, my name is Hatake Kakashi and my personal life is none of your concern," he said before sitting down and glaring at Sakura. "Your turn."

"Well, my name is Haruno Sakura. I like cooking, medicine, and a person that seems to think I don't exist. I dislike when people talk about him because of the way he has turned out to be and my goal is to tell this person how I really feel one day and hope he'll forgive me for past actions," she said before sitting down.

Sasuke looked at me as if he was saying, "Who is she talking about?" I looked back at him with a confused look before staring back at Sakura who had sat down after speaking at turned her sad emerald eyes toward me before looking down at her hands.

I stood up, ready to get this over with. "My name is Uzumaki Naruto. I don't like anyone or anything for that matter and I have no goal." I sat back down and resumed my position on Sakura's left side opposite Sasuke, who was on her right. He stood up right after me.

"My name is Uchiha Sasuke. I like training because it will help me to one day avenge my clan and kill my brother Itachi."

"Well that's all very nice to know. Meet me tomorrow at 1:00 PM in training ground seven," Kakashi said and with that he disappeared in a swirl of leaves.

**End: Well, if Kakashi seems pretty freaked out by the fact that two of his students are psychotic and the other has pink hair and relationship issues, it's because he is. It'll get better, I promise. I still don't know what the rating will be on this story.**


	3. Chapter 3, Sakura's Wicked Ways

Saving Me

_**Saving Me**_

**Disclaimer: **I DO NOT OWN NARUTO. I also do not own the song that this story is named after, no that belongs to my favorite rockers eva, NICKLEBACK!!

**Intro: **Here is Chapter 3! Just for the record, Naruto's seriousness in this story causes him to stop acting like an idiot and more like a genius like Sasuke and Neji are supposed to be.

**Summary: **When the stress of the village's taunting and scorn finally gets to Naruto, he turns emo and the only thing that can save him are three words from a special someone. AU,**Warning:**Characters will be OOC.

**Pairings will be**

**Main: **Naruto/Sakura

**Secondary: **Hinata/Sasuke

TenTen/Neji

Shikamaru/Ino

**Chapter 3, **_The Truth in Her Wicked Ways_

After a full week of training with Kakashi, I'd gotten pretty bored of the same old routine. We were being sent on crackpot missions liked retrieving a runaway cat, walking dogs, and so on. Sakura had started complaining after the first time we had to catch a cat which had mauled her face when she tried to catch it. Of course Sasuke and I were too lazy to go after it ourselves.

Eventually, we all got fed up with the stupid missions that we were receiving and we'd complained about it. Well, let's go back to that. It was the day we'd returned the fat lady's cat. She huggled it to her breasts and then gave us our money. When Kakashi took us to report to the Hokage, Sakura huffed.

"Oh, hehe…my students have something to say," Kakashi said, rubbing the back of his head as Sakura gave him a death glare. It had significantly improved since spending so much time with Sasuke and I.

"We're tired of these stupid missions. An academy student could do this, so why do we ninjas have to get stuck with this stuff?!" Sakura said, losing her temper thinking of how illogical it all was.

"Yeah."

"Hn."

The Hokage looked at Sasuke and I as if wondering if we agreed or just didn't care. Then he smiled and said, "Well I do have a C-rank mission that I could send you guys on I suppose. It's really quite simple. All you have to do is escort Tazuna here to the Wave Country in order for him to complete the bridge." As he said it, a man with a big straw hat, tanned skin, and a bottle of sake walked in the door and looked us over.

Looking at Sasuke and I, he then turned his attention to Sakura. "Wow, that's freaky. Why I got to have some psycho escorts, huh?" he asked in a slurred voice. Obviously, he'd brought more than one bottle of sake and had disposed of a few.

"Pyscho? Those two may be psycho, but don't look at me," Kakashi said trying to look innocent as he pointed as Sasuke and I. It didn't work too well and Tazuna just made a grunting sound in reply.

After taking an hour to pack, we met Kakashi and Tazuna at the gates of Konoha. Surprisingly enough, Kakashi was actually on time. Once we'd all gotten to the gate, we departed on our journey.

After about an hour of walking I stepped over a puddle of water. "Well, that's strange," I thought aloud.

"What is?" Sasuke asked. Before I could answer two ninja had appeared and attacked Kakashi, wrapping his body in chains that came from their gauntlets and then ripping him to shreds.

I spun around and drew my kunai. Sasuke did the same. Sakura looked at the sight in shock before running to stand in front of Tazuna with her own kunai drawn.

In a flash the two ninjas were behind me with their chains coming at me. I jumped into the air and I used a kunai to trap one of the chains as another streak came from behind me and a shuriken trapped them to a tree. The two ninjas were stuck now because of the way the shuriken and the kunai had locked the chains together.

Sasuke attacked both of them, hitting them with a powerful kick which pulled them away from the tree. Their gauntlets cracked because of the force but that caused them to break away. One came at me with ferocious metal claws ready to rip my flesh. Where was the other one?

Oh no! I thought as I looked behind him to find the other ninja going after Sakura and Tazuna. I took out a kunai quickly and stabbed the ninja that was coming at me right in the chest before jumping over him and between Sakura and the other ninja who reached out to cut me as I pushed Sakura and Tazuna out of the way.

Sasuke was ready to finish him when all of a sudden Kakashi appeared out of nowhere holding them both, one over his shoulder, and the other under his arm.

After tying them to a tree, we looked them over. The one I'd stabbed had woken up and glared at me before wincing in pain. "How did you know?" the one with the single horn on his mask asked looking at Kakashi.

"Why don't you ask Naruto instead?" he replied looking at me.

The rogue ninja turned his attention to me. "It's too hot and it hasn't rained in days, so there shouldn't be a puddle of water in the middle of nowhere," I replied when I realized everyone's eyes were on me.

"And you knew this?" Tazuna asked looking at Kakashi who nodded in response. "Then why'd you let the brats fight?!"

"I had to find out who they were after. And might I add that you two did very well," he replied to Tazuna's question before addressing Sasuke and I.

"This is no longer a C-rank mission. Now that we know ninjas are after you, it should be classified as at least a B-rank mission. We are outside of our duties on this one. Well, what do you say?" he said looking at us. Sakura gave an uncertain glance but at Sasuke's 'hn' and my curt nod, she changed her expression to one of confidence and nodded her head. "Okay, then we're finishing the mission."

…2 hours later…

We were crossing the water in a small boat that was barely big enough to hold all of us. There was a thick mist over the water that prevented us from being able to see in front of us, but soon the shape of a bridge appeared out of the mist.

We soon landed on the shore and began walking following behind Tazuna. He led us to our house were we were introduced to Tsunami and Inari, a little kid with bad attitude problems. After we ate dinner we all turned in for the night.

The next morning we were stirred from our sleep by Kakashi. He came to Sasuke and I first and then woke Sakura up. Apparently he had some on-the-job training in store for us. He led us to a small clearing once we got dressed and demonstrated what we would be doing.

"Chakra control is a very important part of all the jutsus you will learn. In order to learn it, you must practice and this is how," Kakashi said to us before walking up the side of a tree with his hands behind his back and coming to a halt once he was hanging upside down from a high branch. "This is your goal," he said stabbing a kunai into the tree level with the branch. He did the same to two others before jumping down from the tree. "You might try getting a running start to make it easier. Mark your progress by slashing the tree with your kunai where you stop," he said before pulling out his book and walking away.

"Well, that was a nice explanation," Sasuke mumbled with sarcasm in his voice.

"Yeah," I replied before I scaled up one of the trees. Sasuke and Sakura did the same. It was hard for me to focus my chakra on my feet but Sakura seemed to be progressing well. She'd already gotten within four feet of her goal. Sasuke looked over at her before walking over and asking her for assistance just as she'd reached her goal. _No, I will not ask her. I don't want her pity and I'm not going to take advice from her..ever! _I thought to myself as I tried to concentrate my chakra again.

I couldn't make it and I jumped back down to find that Sasuke was already getting better. His progress had nearly doubled since he'd asked Sakura for assistance. Hmph, I can do this by myself, I thought stubbornly as I concentrated my chakra into my feet again and ran up the tree.

Instead of just giving it one big burst, I channeled a little bit at a time and found myself inches from my goal as I cut another mark in the tree. When I jumped back down, I saw that Sakura was looking my way with a look of satisfaction on her face. _I don't know why she looks so happy. She didn't do anything_, I thought before trying again and finally making it to the goal line. With one final slash, I jumped down from the tree and walked over to where Sasuke had already finished and he and Sakura were resting on a log.

"About time dobe," Sasuke said with a smirk.

"How long have you been finished?" I asked.

"About ten minutes now," he replied with a smirk and Sakura covered her mouth and let out a giggle.

"Haha," I said unenthusiastically before I sat down next to him.

After a few minutes of just sitting there, Kakashi walked up and looked at us. "You're finished already?" he asked.

We all nodded and he sighed. "Okay, then you can just take a break then," he replied before walking away.

"So what do you guys want to do?" Sakura asked after a moment of silence.

"I don't know," Sasuke said.

"You guys don't have anything you like to do?" she asked.

Sasuke shook his head and so did I. "I'm leaving," Sasuke said as he got up and left leaving Sakura and I sitting on the log together. Once Sasuke disappeared, Sakura scooted closer to me and looked me in the eyes as she asked, "Why do you hate me?"

"I could ask you that. You're the one who is too ashamed to talk to me in front of anyone. You're the one that laughs and jokes about me with your friends but then comes over here and tries to be all nice and everything."

"What do you mean? I don't talk about you with anyone!" Sakura replied.

"Then why were you over there laughing at me on graduation day when Ino and those other girls were pointing at me?" I asked my eyes flashing red for an instant. This time Sakura didn't even flinch.

She answered, "They weren't laughing at you. They were making fun of me because they found out about me cutting myself. They said that we'd make a good couple because we're both emo."

I looked at her stunned. "But that was a long time ago that you'd cut yourself right?"

"No," She replied holding out her arm where I could see that there were some cuts on her wrist that were only a couple days old.

"Sakura, why did you do that?" I asked with a firm voice. She looked down and didn't answer. I grabbed her shoulders, shook her violently, and asked in a stronger voice, "Why did you cut yourself?"

Tears began to fall from her eyes as she replied, "S-since the day that I first met you, I've been really depressed. I-I found out that day that my dad had been k-killed while on a mission. E-ever since then, t-things have been hard for me. T-those girls you c-call my friends hate me. T-they made fun of me because m-my dad died and now they make fun of me b-because I cut myself."

"That's why you do that to yourself? You shouldn't take that out on yourself, Sakura!" I replied with shock at that startling discovery.

"I-It's just really hard for me to deal with them. E-Every time they say those things, it's like they're stabbing knives into me j-just to see me squirm."

I didn't know what to say to Sakura to make her stop crying. Up until now, I'd hated her because I thought she hated me too, but I had been wrong. Sakura was an okay person, just misunderstood…a lot like me. I guess we had more in common than I thought.

**End: Well, I'll stop here since I think it's long enough and I don't feel like writing anymore. R&R for me will ya? This is the first fic I've ever done like this.**


	4. Chapter 4, Do You Still Hate Me?

Saving Me

_**Saving Me**_

**Disclaimer: **I DO NOT OWN NARUTO. I also do not own the song that this story is named after, no that belongs to my favorite rockers eva, NICKLEBACK!!

**Intro: **Here is Chapter 4! Okay, so I just realized while reading over the last chapter that I'd left out the part where Zabuza attacked them. I didn't do it on purpose and that really did happen so just pretend like I wrote it, besides you should all know what happened.

**Summary: **When the stress of the village's taunting and scorn finally gets to Naruto, he turns emo and the only thing that can save him are three words from a special someone. **Warning:**Characters will be OOC.

**Pairings will be**

**Main: **Naruto/Sakura

**Secondary: **Hinata/Sasuke

TenTen/Neji

Shikamaru/Ino

**Chapter 4, **_Do You Still Hate Me?_

It was about a week after that day when things got interesting again. Because ninjas were after Tazuna, we would have to stay while he completed the bridge to make sure that no harm came to him.

One morning, when we were out on the bridge, those two ninja from before appeared. Zabuza and Haku had come back to take care of Tazuna for good. Zabuza decided to take Kakashi while Haku went after us. Sakura stood behind and protected Tazuna while Sasuke and I did all the fighting.

Sasuke threw a swarm of shuriken at the boy while I threw two kunai. He dodged them expertly, but what he didn't know is that we'd planned on that. Sasuke and I had been training together for a while before getting out of the Academy and had concocted some pretty good plans.

I looked over at him and he smirked before nodding to me. With both of us on the same page, we pulled our arms back simultaneously and our weapons, connected to our hands by thin chakra fibers came flying back at the unsuspecting Haku. They all stabbed him in the back at an amazing speed, but only for his body to turn into water and the weapons fell to the ground.

"Haha, that was a very good plan. Too bad I outsmarted you both," he said from somewhere to our right. We couldn't see him very clearly in this thick mist. We could see movement and knew he was about to perform a jutsu. Suddenly we were trapped in an almost "room" made of ice mirrors.

"What the hell?.." I said as I looked around.

Suddenly a barrage of senbon needles came flying towards us. Thinking fast, I jumped as high as I could go and managed to dodge most of them. Sasuke had tried to dodge them from the ground. Now they were sticking out of his back in all directions.

"Sasuke…are you okay?" I said in a somewhat caring but still strong voice. When I didn't get a response I looked for Haku. Suddenly I saw his face in one of the mirrors. I ran at it and punched it but only to find that he was no longer there. Turning around, I saw that he'd moved to another mirror.

Then it clicked. He was moving from one mirror to another and he could move faster than me. So the only way to find him…was to attack them all at once. I began forming the seals with my hands and then shouted, "Multi Shadow Clone Jutsu!"

Hundreds more of me appeared and then I sent them all out to a different mirror to attack while I waited to see the result. Just as I'd thought, a shocked Haku soon appeared outside of the mirrors on his hands and knees. Soon they disappeared all together as the jutsu was broken. Only ten of my clones had survived that onslaught. I could feel a strong prescence building in me as my rage increased.

My eyes flashed red at my opponent and so did my other clones. Before the stunned Haku could react, my clones were upon him. After they'd thoroughly beaten him to a pulp, they picked him up. His mask cracked and fell off of his face. "Kill me," he said to me. "Just kill me. Do, it Naruto!" he exclaimed looking at me with an angry expression. I was about to take him up on that offer when he suddenly looked over to where Kakashi and Zabuza were fighting. "I'm sorry, but my work is not finished yet," he said before disappearing.

Crackling noises could be heard as Kakashi's Lightning Blade made contact with the enemy. I could barely tell what had happened because of the mist. But I could tell that Haku had just risked his life for Zabuza; actually sacrificed himself would be the better phrase for it.

But just as I was focusing on that I heard a scream of terror. It was Sakura, I could tell. Suddenly my heart began pounding as I realized that this is what had happened in my dream. "Sakura!" I exclaimed into the thick mist but my words were drowned out.

I had to save her. Kakashi was still in the same position as if he was in shock and Sasuke was still immobilized and dead to the world. I was the only one who could help Sakura. I ran in the direction of the scream only to find a stunned Tazuna. "Which way did they go?" I asked him with my kunai drawn and ready.

He pointed with his finger while still looking somewhat shocked. I ran in the direction that he'd indicated. Soon I heard another scream but it was quickly muffled. I decided that it would be better for me not to reply as that would tell Zabuza where I was. I was closer this time however and so I charged forward at an even faster pace. Soon two figures could be seen through the mist and I stopped for a second to check it out.

One was tall and standing up with a giant bastard sword rested on his shoulders. The other was almost not recognizable as a person at first. It was rested at the feet of the other figure. I started to run towards Sakura when all of a sudden, the ground disappeared under my foot. I managed to stop myself from falling. There was a huge gap in the bridge here where it wasn't finished yet.

I could see the other side almost clearly. Sakura could obviously see me because she tried to get my attention. "Hmelp me Mamuto!" she exclaimed. He must have gagged her because she couldn't talk. Also, by the way she was trying to hop up and down in order to make me see her; he must've tied her hands and feet together.

_I have to get over there now. But how?_ I thought, looking at the huge gap in the bridge. Then I remembered the chakra control exercises that we'd done. If it can help me walk up trees, it should help me jump over this gap. Running back a distance from the gap, I took a deep breath and then focused my chakra into my feet. I began running fast toward the gap and then I felt it.

Another chakra presence rushed into my legs making me go faster and when I jumped it was like a godly hand had picked me up and was carrying me through the air and to the other side. I landed with one foot flat on the ground, my other leg resting on my knee.

When I looked up to Sakura's captor, my eyes were red and had slit pupils. I could feel my fingernails elongating and turning into claws. When they saw this, Sakura gasped but Zabuza just chuckled evilly. "An eye for an eye, young ninja. Your sensei killed Haku so now, I'm going to kill her," he said motioning to Sakura who had fear written all over her face, along with the words "helpless" and "weak." But I disregarded the last two because of the situation where any other time I would've just rolled my eyes and walked away from her.

"I don't think so," I said before realizing how deadly my voice sounded. _**That's it, get angry. We can take him**_, a deep demonic voice said as it laughed inside my head.

I ran at Zabuza in response to the unspoken command and was about to slash at him with my kunai when his sword came down on me. But I moved out of the way just in time and slashed him in the side with the sharp blade. Using the Shadow Clone Jutsu again while I was behind him, I attacked again but from every angle. Each clone slashed at him with kunai, while I managed to get in and drag Sakura away unharmed.

Untying the cloth that had prevented her from talking, I told her, "Just wait here and I'll take care of him." She gave me an uneasy glance. "I'll be back," I said and she nodded in response.

Zabuza was swiping at my clones with his sword. Since he was preoccupied, I pulled out four kunai from their holster. Jumping into the air using chakra, I threw them down towards his current axis. (a/n I'm referring to the center of his body in other words. He's turning on it so it's an axis.) He didn't see them until it was too late and they all stabbed into his back. Just as I was about to come down on him with the final blow, a multitude of figures appeared to my right, stopping me in my tracks. All of my clones disappeared as I released the jutsu.

It was that man Gato and his crones. Kakashi soon appeared beside me and Tazuna watched from the other side as the mist began to clear up. Sasuke was still lying where I'd left him. "What took you so long?" I asked Kakashi bitterly. He looked down at me while Zabuza gave him a strange glance and then I noticed it. He had a tear running down his cheek, but just one. I didn't understand it. Why was he crying?

And then he turned to face Gato and his men, pulling his sword up higher. He ran at them full speed and cut through their ranks with ease. Unable to take my eyes off of the sight before me, I was taken by surprise when Sakura said, "Naruto…could you please untie me?"

I turned to her and then remembered that she was still tied up. I walked over to her and cut the ropes with my kunai and then helped her to her feet. "Kakashi-sensei, what happened? I mean one minute he's threatening to kill me and the next he's attacking those guys. I thought he was working for them," Sakura said and I nodded my agreement.

"I talked to him, well, his clone. I didn't find out in time though. He'd already gotten a hold of you before I realized it. I'm sorry Sakura, I should've seen that coming," Kakashi answered before looking down at his student.

"It's okay Kakashi-sensei…Naruto saved me," she said looking down at the ground. I looked at her with curiosity. What was wrong with her now? Kakashi was also looking at her and then he looked at me. I gave him a look that said, "Don't ask me, I'm not a mind reader."

When we turned our attention back to Zabuza, we saw that Gato's men had stabbed their weapons into his back and he was close to dying now. With one last burst of energy, he pulled one of the spears from his back and stabbed Gato in the chest before falling over dead himself. As this was happening, our faces began to get wet as drops of rain poured down from the sky as if…it was crying.

I stood leaned against a tree, my arms crossed, while wind blew my blonde locks around my face frantically. We were on the edge of a hill that had a steep drop-off overlooking the water. In front of Sakura, Sasuke and I there were two crosses in the ground and Zabuza's sword stuck in the ground between them.

Sakura was standing right beside me and Sasuke was standing behind us. I felt someone touch my arm lightly and I spun around to face her with an angry expression on my face. I didn't mean to direct it to her but she immediately looked down. "C-could you come her for a second Naruto?" she asked in a shy and tender voice while still looking down at the ground.

I just stood up straight to answer her and then followed her past Sasuke and Kakashi who were staring off into space for all anyone knew. Once we were far away from them, she stopped walking. "I-I wanted to ask you something..," Sakura started uncertain of how I would react.

"Ask me," I said firmly but with enough of a softness that she wouldn't feel threatened.

"Well, I was wondering…Whenever I screamed for you, you came to save me and..," she started off while blushing.

Knowing what she was implying, I interrupted her coldly, "It was pure instinct. Nothing more, nothing less."

The look she gave me then was one that I hadn't even seen her use when she got rejected by Sasuke. It was much…deeper. Fighting back tears, she asked, "D-do you still h-hate me?"

"That's what I'm trying to figure out," I said before walking off, leaving her to cry to herself.

**End: I hoped you guys liked the chapter, and I know Naruto was really mean and Sasuke-ish at the end but it's supposed to be like that. Besides, I told you he'd be OOC in this story so…no complaining! Read and Review newayz!!**


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